Quick Links

About NBL Collection

The NBL collection of human and animal cell lines was developed by the staff of The Naval Biosciences Laboratory (NBL) in Oakland, California, and transferred to ATCC in 1982.

One purpose of the NBL collection was to produce and distribute early passage primary cultures of cells from various clinical materials. Many of these cultures, unlike most others available from ATCC, are mixed populations. NBL lines from tumors, for example, may consist of mixtures of stromal and cancer cells in which the former cell type predominates. As primary cultures, they have a limited doubling potential and will be removed from the collection as they approach senescence. To ensure viability, we usually distribute them in flasks as growing cultures.

Because these cell lines are neither fully characterized nor accessioned by ATCC, we do not warrant them to the same extent that we warrant our other cell lines. ATCC does not guarantee they will maintain a specific morphology, purity, or any other property upon passage. The information provided on these cell lines was not generated nor warranted by ATCC. As noted in the Material Transfer Agreement, it is the purchaser's responsibility to assess and interpret this information in consideration of the use, selection, application, or suitability of these cell lines.

Whenever time and resources permit, ATCC will fully accession cultures from this collection. In these few cases, the cultures will be distributed as frozen vials. If you have any questions, please contact Technical Support.